Rain poured in Cebu City and some of its neighboring areas going to the southeast of the province at dawn yesterday but the sun was hot after the sky cleared. Flooding threatened once more some parts of the Metro Cebu plains had the rains not dissipated. Which brings me to the issue that has exploded on the faces of many government officials recently.
But first, who would have thought that the son of the real “Macoy,” Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. would be the one to open the floodgate (no pun intended) and expose the anomalous handling of flood control projects in the country for years, even decades, now? Perhaps he just did not want to be blamed for something that has been going on even before he assumed the presidency.
It only floods when it rains, they say but the optics have become troubling as the rainy season came. The sun may have come out again but the sky will soon darken again when another climate disturbance passes. And then the problem will become more visible and difficult to bear. Flash floods have always been the bane for a Cebu City with an old drainage system, but these have become problems too in the cities of Mandaue and Talisay.
For a while, I thought that the sight of people waiting to be rescued from the roofs after their houses had been flooded would not be seen in Cebu because of our island’s mountainous terrain. But it looks like we could be seeing those floods in the relatively narrow plains that we have, especially in the cities. That is why there is now a need to look into the government’s flood control programs and straighten these out. At least where Cebu is concerned.
When I was still an active journalist, the flood-prone areas in some parts of the city can be pinpointed. I usually wait for the rain to dissipate and the flash floods to disappear before venturing out. This was especially true when I drove a second hand vehicle that could not function in deep street waters. I remember a good friend whose small car was caught in a flood, the dirty water drowning the engine. He had to buy a replacement engine, a sad added expense for a wage earner.
Of course, straightening out the country’s flood control program is difficult. In Cebu City, a drainage master plan has also to be included in any flood control program. Plus, this should be coordinated with the flood control program in other jurisdictions. Because we are in one island, after all, and whose terrain government officials have forgotten in mapping out development as part of an overall urbanization drive.
That drive has forgotten the vital role esteros, creeks and rivers play in urban growth. Those esteros, creeks and rivers used to gather and allow rain water to flow to the sea. But when esteros, creeks and rivers get clogged, the water will overflow and build its own passageway to the sea.
But I hope that something substantial can be had with the exposure of the anomalous transactions related to flood control in the country. BBM still has a few years to salvage whatever can be salvaged from a tattered program.